While playing Child of Light, Forgottenlor decided to write up a review and send it our way. So here are his findings.

Though a typical sidescroller, Child of Light also offers opportunities for exploration. There are often alternative routes to reach the next goal. There are also treasures and secret rooms one could miss if one only travels straight from A to B. Many of these secret rooms are a series of traps or timed obstacles at the end of which one is rewarded with treasure chests. I'll admit that I'm no puzzle master, and often don't like puzzles in games. Either they're so simple that they seem like a chore, or they're so hard, I need to look on the internet for a solution. I was pleasently surprised by Child of Light's puzzles. They were never unfair, but often made me experiment and think. Even the timed obstacle courses are well done. Instead of having to make one perfectly timed action, you often have to navigate about five obstacles in a set amount of time. If you complete four (they all have small margins of error), you complete the course and get the loot.

Patrick Plourde of Ubisoft Montreal announced his studio is developing more games set in the Child Of Light universe. So if you liked the first game this might interest you.

Fans of Child of Light: There are very cool projects in process set in the Child of Light universe. More News soon. Stay tuned!

PowerupGaming offers a second opinion review of Ubisoft's fairy tale RPG Child Of Light. The game was a success last year, and received many positive reviews.

So, how does my second opinion stack up against Adam's original one? We agree on most counts, except that I am a fan of the rhyming speech while he is not. The music is also a huge bonus from my perspective, though that may not be as important to other players. I'll also quickly mention the DLC for this game. The Golem's Plight download gives you access to the Golem character quite early in the game. He is a powerhouse physical attacker, and quite the valuable resource.

Ultimately, I think that the original score of 8 out of 10 doesn't do this beautiful game justice. I'd lean more towards an 8.5 or a 9. It's not every day that you find a game that you can play over and over, enjoying it just as much on every reiteration.

IGN released a short video about why Child of Light is a Game of the Year Nominee. I seem to remember some of you liked the game, and others criticized the art style. 

The IGN crew breaks down why they chose the unique RPG as one of 2014's Game of The Year Nominees.

Child of Light Lead Programmer Brie Code shares her opinion on what women want in video games in a new article on gamesindustry.biz.

Now a warning keep the comments civil.

"What do women want?"

It's a question the game industry asks itself with great frequency, and it's one Child of Light lead programmer Brie Code answered in a presentation today at Toronto's final Gamercamp festival. Well, sort of.

"I don't know," Code said in response to her own question. "I don't think that women want something [singular], because they're half the population. They're a varied group of people with different backgrounds and different preferences. At the same time, I know that I'm not completely happy with what the games industry is making. I would love to see some different stuff."

Code said what she wants is to share games with her non-gamer friends, people she grew up with who share many of her tastes, but not her interest in games. Something historically has been stopping them, Code said, but those barriers are falling. Many non-gamers have access to gaming platforms now, whether they realize it or not. From the phones in their pockets to hand-me-down consoles loaned from gaming friends who've jumped to a new generation of systems. Code has been using those openings to introduce her friends to games with titles that challenge their traditional notions of what games are. Recommendations to play Journey and Skyrim have been particularly well-received, Code noted.

"I think they would play games if it was more friendly to them, more welcoming," Code said.

Ben Dutka of PSX Extreme writes that Child Of Light was the best game he played In 2014. Now the questions is what about you as the game has a lot of negative replies?

Child of Light remains a highlight of the year for me. And it has nothing to do with nostalgia or the inclusion of turn-based combat. This wonderfully inspired, amazingly artistic painting-come-to-life was just magical from front to back. How many different games can we say that about? "Magical" isn't an adjective I use often but I can't seem to come up with a better one for Ubisoft's beautifully presented RPG. In a sea of blockbusters that didn't quite deliver, Child of Light reminded me why I still play video games. And that says a lot.

P.S. If anyone is wondering, no, The Evil Within will not be getting a 9. Review coming in less than 24 hours.

I love that last part myself as most sites have given The Evil Within a nine.

CVG had the chance to interview Ubisoft Montreal's VP of Creative Lionel Raynaud, and he shares news the studio will produce more titles like Child of Light in the future.

"We are super happy with Child of Light. The team did a good job and the game had a great reception," he told CVG. "We were proud to deliver something new and unique - a lot of people were surprised that Montreal was delivering this kind of game.

"The team learned a lot about RPG mechanics during development and this has resulted in us creating a core team. The people who made this game now want to work together again, whether it's on a small game or not.

"This dynamic has incredible value in the industry and it's what we want to do: we want to create core teams that want to make great games," he added.

"So yes, we will encourage other initiatives like Child of Light and there's a chance that we will have many more games like that in the future. I already have many different projects that are in the pitch stage - I even had one in my office this morning, which was super exciting."

IGN posted a new video where they explain why Child Of Light is their next Game of the Month. I can say I agree with them, and expect others won't so here is the video.

A beautifully unique art style, elegant combat system, and nuanced writing are front and center in Child of Light, IGN's Game of the Month for April.

Eurogamer checked out Child of Light on the six different platforms it is available on and made a comparison on graphics performance.

On the whole Child of Light is a well-crafted experience across all platforms, although it's clear that the current-generation console and PC releases are the most satisfying to play due to the way the higher-resolution visuals more faithfully replicating fine lines and intricate detail in the stylish artwork. Running solidly at 60fps, the PS4 game is the definitive console version, and it's also Cross Buy too, so you get the PS3 game at no extra cost - a pretty nice bonus even if the experience isn't quite as good on a graphical level.

There are loads of reviews for Child of Light out there so this isn't much of a roundup actually, it's more a brief collection of some of the last couple of reviews with some high ratings and some lower ratings, just to give you an idea.

• GoRoboNow, rated 'optimal'
• Throwing Digital Sheep, 9.5
• GamerChatter, 9.5
• NewGamerNation, 9
• That Video Game Blog, 7.5
• The Sydney Morning Herald, 7
• Gamer Syndrome, 10

Ubisoft has released the next behind the scenes video for Child Of Light.

Watch how Aurora has been imagined and designed. Discover in this making of what the story of Child of Light has been inspired from!Dive into the Ubisoft Montreal Studio and discover development team and artists who brought this playable poem to life.

Child of Light is the transformation journey of Aurora, a young princess who woke up in the world of Lemuria. She has to face with her destiny in an epic quest to find the Sun, the Moon and the Stars stolen by the Dark Queen.

Ubisoft has released another video trailer about the game world of Child Of Light.

Welcome to the world of Lemuria. Child of Light is an RPG inspired by fairy tales, created by the talented team at Ubisoft Montreal using the UbiArt Framework.
http://childoflight.ubi.com/

Child of Light is coming April 30, 2014 and will be available for download on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox® 360 and Xbox® One, the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4, the eShop from Nintendo for the Wii U, Uplay and Steam for PC.

Ubisoft released another video for Child Of Light were we get a look behind the scenes of the games sound , and music effects with Coeur de Pirate.

Meet Coeur de Pirate and explore her composition and inspiration behind the music for Child of Light. Also, discover how Ubisoft Montreal Studios where inspired by nature and le Cirque du Soleil shows to create the amazing sound in the game.

Gamasutra interviewed Child of Light Writer Jeffrey Yohalem to ask a few questions, and come to the conclusion that smaller is better for development.

Would you prefer to keep working on smaller teams like this, or are you looking to get back on a larger project?

Um… As a creator, I like working with limitations. That’s where new ideas come from -- if there were no limitations, then you would have everything and just be done.

I love the challenges that Pat presents, so I love working with him. He’s a visionary, and he pushes me to write things I never would have written. He pushes me to overcome obstacles. So I hope we get to work on many things together in the future, even though I know we’ll probably do things apart too, because that’s how life is.

Sometimes you move apart, you come together, and it’s not always up to you. The company has things that they want, and various other things. But with or without him, I hope we both continue to forward the expressive space of video games.

The worst thing that can happen to someone in life is that they are numbed, that they are so cut off from expression that they end up unable to feel. The role of art is to open up those pathways again, and I think that we are in the youngest art form, and one of the most exciting art forms I’ve ever seen.

We’re also in a very dark place, as an art form, both because it’s the beginning and because tech keeps developing as products that need demos. I mean, that’s what it literally becomes -- it’s not that we’re making art, it’s that we’re making a demo for a product, so you have reason to buy this product.

I think that trend needs to reverse itself, and I think it’s in the process of reversing itself now, finally. The amount of new products coming out is slowing, and the pressure to make a compelling product that forces people to buy it is slowing, and at that point the content can grow.

Game Skinny's Fathoms_4209 has written a new article for Ubisoft's JRPG Child Of Light were he writes it's, "One of the Most Important Games of 2014."

There are a hundred different ways to kill things in video games these days. And thanks to better technology, the rampant death is more visceral and more realistic with every passing year.

This is why Ubisoft's Child of Light is so critical.

Amid the coarseness, the violence, the questionable content, and the unmitigated, over-the-top brutality, we occasionally get titles that remind us of a different sort of fantasy. These are games that titillate the imagination rather than the senses. They absorb in a way that goes well beyond simple immersion; they tap into different parts of our minds and soul.

To balance out the nastiness that exists in gaming today, I would recommend trying Child of Light when it launches later this month.

Ubisoft released a new video for Child Of Light where Japanese Artist Yoshitaka Amano shows how he re-created the art inspired by the game.

The Child of Light team collaborates with world-renowned Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano to create unique art inspired by this fairy tale JRPG.

Child of Light is a re-imagining of classic fairy tales set against a picturesque background inspired by the watercolor artworks of The Golden Age of Illustration. As a playable poem, Child of Light puts players in the shoes of Aurora, a young princess who must win back the sun, the moon and the stars held captive by the mysterious Queen of the Night.

I managed to roundup five new previews for Ubisoft's new RPG Child Of Light. The game wil be released this month. So you wont have long to wait if the game interest you.

PC Gamer

Child of Light is Ubisoft's playable poem. It's a fairy tale led by Far Cry 3 director Patrick Plourde, informed by JRPG combat and built using the same proprietary UbiArt Framework as Rayman Legends. It's also an actual poem (or rather, an anthology of poems), so I went to meet the lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem to talk sonnets, rhyme schemes and fairy tale trauma.

IGN

I spent my time with Child of Light's opening wearing a big dumb grin wide across my face. It's a gorgeous, lean, and smart reimagining of the classic RPGs that I grew up on through the '90s. Though their content couldn't be any more different, the thing it kept bringing to mind was South Park: The Stick of Truth. The way both games wholly embrace their world and aim at delivering a JRPG experience without any of the fluff that generally bogs down the genre is so completely appreciated by me. If the rest of the game is as creative, gorgeous, and entertaining as the opening three hours, Child of Light will be one of 2014's premiere RPGs.

Destructoid

It's safe to say that Child of Light might be seen as somewhat of an unusual title coming from such a big name publisher. Of course, there's the stigma of big publishers not caring too much about small titles that go for something a bit different, but Yohalem spoke very highly of the publisher and the experience. "Ubisoft has just been so supportive of what we wanted to do. They've been

Gamereactor

We've missed turn-based combat that keeps us on our toes, and packaged as it is with a beautiful watercolour world, enchanting soundtrack and that bafflingly large gameplay time (for a digital title, we thought it'd be half the expected ten hours at best), the end of April will see us happily part with the ten or so quid to see this adventure through.

Eurogamer

Our video editor Ian recently got a chance to play the game, record tons of footage and chat to creative director Patrick Plourde. As gorgeous as it is, he found the game was slow to pull him in (although in fairness, these demo sessions are rarely the best way to experience an RPG). For lots more info - including how the game plays on Wii U and PS4/Vita Remote Play - check out his findings below. Or if you'd rather just soak it up, we've got 10 minutes of gameplay footage without commentary, too.

Got Game posted a new video interview Lead Writer Jeffrey Yohalem to talk about Ubisoft's upcoming RPG Child Of Light, and gets look some gameplay footage.

Jeffrey Yohalem, Lead Writer of Child Of Light gives us a sneak peak into the fanciful fantasy world filled with puzzles and wonderment in Ubisoft’s new Child Of Light.

PlayStation Access has new video interview with Creative Director Patrick Plourde.

Child Of Light is a RPG with a gorgeous art style and a brilliantly old-school approach to combat and structure. Hollie chats with Creative Director Patrick Plourde about the story, visuals, battle system and co-op play.

Ubisoft has released the first part of a new series of videos that goes behind the scenes to show the development of their upcoming Platform RPG Child of Light.

In this official behind-the-scenes trailer, Creative Director Patrick Plourde and writer Jeffrey Yohalem give fans a closer look into the making of Child of Light.

Created by the talented team of Ubisoft Montreal using the UbiArt Framework, Child of Light is an RPG inspired by fairy tales.

http://childoflight-game.com/

Child of Light is coming April 30, 2014 and will be available for download on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox® 360 and Xbox® One, the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4, the eShop from Nintendo for the Wii U, Uplay and Steam for PC.

J Station X has a new article for Ubisoft's new Platform RPG Child Of Light. They list everything you will need to know about the game to get ready for the release.

Child of Light blinks and glimmers like a beacon of hope on the horizon. With combat, platforming and an art style more creative than a da Vinci fever dream, you probably wouldn’t believe it if I told you that the game is from Ubisoft Montreal, the same development team that also brought us the brilliant stealth stabbing action of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. But it is, though Child of Light couldn’t be any further from that series if it tried. It’s like few things seen in any series actually, which makes it a hard sell. However, without making room for the title in your brainspace, you’d be seriously missing out, so where better to start than here, to find out everything you ought to know about Child of Light.

NoobFeed took the time to interview Creative Producer Patrick Plourde, and asked a few quesions about Child Of Light. I took a few questions and posted them below.

Ron: A Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) crafted in a poetic manner, with influence from a fairytale, sounds appealing for a younger audience. Do you believe that there is enough depth in the story to grab the attention of adults as well?

Patrick Plourde: Fairy Tales have been told from parents to their children for hundreds of years. I wanted to recreate this experience in a game that a fan of classic RPGs could share with his family. The subject is done in a mature way; it is not condescending to anybody. So I believe that people of all ages will be able to appreciate the story.

Ron: What was the inspiration behind this distinctive visual design?

Patrick Plourde: The main inspirations were the artists of the Golden Age of Illustrations: Arthur Rackham, John Bauer, Edmund Dulac and Kay Nielsen. They were all illustrating Fairy Tale books in the late 19th century. Their depiction of fantasy worlds were real inspirations for me and the artists on the team.

Ron: Unlike other 2D sidescrollers, Aurora can both walk and fly: left, right, up and down. This provides a great sense of freedom. How did you come up with the idea for these movements?

Patrick Plourde: I knew I wanted to make a game where you play a flying fairy. I was playing Rayman Origins to check what we could do with the engine, and while playing the underwater level, I came to realize that Flying is basically swimming, but outside of water.

Ron: Developed using UbiArt, an in-house engine by Ubisoft, previously used for Rayman Origins and its sequel, Rayman Legends, there are still noticeable differences present in Child of Light. What are some of the major obstacles the team has come across using these tools?

Patrick Plourde: We had to learn a whole new production pipeline. All of our artists and level designers were used to working with a 3D engine, so there was a learning curve there since a 2D game comes with its own constraints. Not to sound silly, but in 2D everything needs to be on screen, while in 3D you can move the camera. That means that you must think about everything in relation with the frame instead of with the 3D space.

Ubisoft has released a new Co-Op trailer for Child Of Light. They also remind everyone the game will be released April 30th on both Uplay, and Steam.

Child of Light is coming April 30, 2014 and will be available for download on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox® 360 and Xbox® One, the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4, the eShop from Nintendo for the Wii U, Uplay and Steam for PC.

OXCGN previews Ubisoft's Child Of Light, and ponders if it will be a 2014 masterpiece.

In my opinion this game has all the hallmarks to be a huge hit. It seems like it will have a real deep and compelling narrative  married quite deeply with the gameplay systems and stunning art. Some of the most impressive and iconic titles over the last few years have done a similar thing, with Journey and The Unfinished Swan immediately coming to mind. Only time will tell whether it will be as successful as it seems, but it certainly illuminates itself amongst the majority of popular, more gritty and ‘realistic’, titles topping the market in recent times. In my mind this lesser known title has the capacity to at least match or succeed the acclaim of the big hitters this year, possibly even earning itself a spot as the unsung masterpiece of 2014. Either way Ubisoft Montreal have done an amazing job thus far and I can not wait to play Ubisoft Montreal’s beautiful epic poem when it launches.

Ubisoft has released a new trailer for Child of Light with news the game will be released at the end of April on PC, and consoles.

Child of Light - a classic RPG with turn-based combat, 200+ skills to unlock, and 600+ crafting combinations.

Created by the talented team of Ubisoft Montreal using the UbiArt Framework, Child of Light is an RPG inspired by fairy tales.

http://childoflight-game.com/

Child of Light is coming April 30, 2014 and will be available for download on Xbox LIVE for the Xbox® 360 and Xbox® One, the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4, the eShop from Nintendo for the Wii U, and Steam for PC.

Ubisoft released a new video that gives you a walkthrough of their JRPG Child Of Light.

Follow Aurora in the Magical world of Lemuria and Brianna Code, lead programmer on Child of Light. She's presenting diffrent aspect of the game such as the gameplay, the world and the skill tree.

Child of Light is a reimagining of classic fairytales, inviting players on an epic adventure into the magical painted world of Lemuria. Players will uncover mysteries, participate in turn-by-turn combat inspired by classic JRPGs, and explore the mystical kingdom.

PC Gamer takes a look at Child Of Light in this new preview based on a short playthrough of an early build of the game.

Each party member and enemy has an action bar that fills, although this can be interrupted by some attacks. Once mine is full, I choose from a selection of RPG combat clichés: use a potion, cast a spell, execute a melee attack, or defend. Meanwhile, Igniculus floats around the screen – controlled by a second player, if you have one – blinding enemies with bursts of light and healing the fighters.

Before levelling up and establishing a tactic, I discover and get brutally cut down by a dragon boss. After a few lesser fights, however, I develop a nearly infallible flowchart strategy. Finn always guards, giving him total protection from one attack, or heals Aurora, while Aurora always attacks. Since the enemies focus on Finn, we’re tough to take down.

The fight is still close when I return to the boss – his double attacks break through Finn’s defence – but with a group healing spell and Aurora’s earth magic, the beast falls right on cue, before his final attack can finish us off.

That’s the way of the classic Japanese RPG (or in this case, French Canadian). Go as far as you can until you die, and by the time you get back you’ll have accrued enough experience to wreck a oncechallenging enemy and adventure on to the next. As progression leads to new spells, stat enhancements, party members, and enemies, it’s apparent that Child of Light’s by-the-book combat will become more complex and harrowing. The juxtaposed floating sidescrolling, however, is incongruously sweet and simple, and left me with a better impression.

It takes some skill to hit the snaking chains of mana orbs in the correct order, but the exploration is otherwise gentle. Aurora will surely float into trickier, more dangerous environments and puzzles, but even when its easy, Child of Light holds my attention with its style and cheer.

Electronic Theatre has a new interview with Creative Director Patrick Plourde, and Scriptwriter Jeffrey Yohalem about their upcoming game Child Of Light.

What is Child of Light?

Child of Light is a 2D RPG using Ubi Art Framework, the Rayman Origins Engine. The original idea was to make a game where we play on living paintings, a ‘playable poem’. A game that feels soft and inviting where I’m free to explore and discover it. You mix it with my love for JRPGs like the FinalFantasy and Grandia series and you have the foundations of what the game is today.

What were your inspirations to create the Child of Light’s universe?

In 2007, I went to see the ‘Once upon a Time… Walt Disney’ exposition at the Art Museum here in Montreal. Looking at the references , from Arthur Rackham to Kay NielsenDisney used to create its classic movies was really inspiring to me. The idea that stuck with me was to, one day, uses those references and have a chance to do my personal take on it.

Fairy Tales strong use of Symbols makes them universal and open to be reinterpreted. The idea is to use those symbols that live in our collective ‘DNA’ and to spin them in a tale that feels modern: An active heroine, no prince charming at the end, focused on the idea that we need to grow up, leave home and take responsibility to make a change in the world.

That was the initial spark toward building the universe of Lemuria.

What is the story of Child of Light?

Child of Light is the story of a young girl, Aurora, who falls ill, but instead of dying she wakes up in another world. The game is about her struggle to return home.

Jeffrey, how did you write the script?

The script is written in verse, largely in ballad form. It’s exciting and challenging to work within such a rigid structure. Pat and I developed the story together in October, and I’ve been working on it since.

Because the text in the game is largely written, not spoken, my goal is to pack as much meaning into as few words as possible. Much of the story is told through gameplay, the story’s evolution is tightly linked with Aurora’s evolution.

It’s also important that I remain flexible. The script changes during the development process. As the levels of the game evolve, the script evolves. We’re working in tandem.

PushSquare posted a new preview for Child Of Light. The writer sounds impressed with the game from it's first showing to the public.

The second UbiArt-powered game to be unveiled at Ubisoft’s Digital Days 2013 event, Child of Light – which is launching on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 – was pitched to us as “a JRPG for those that don’t have the time to invest a hundred hours into a game”. While this quote may trouble some hardcore JRPG fans, know that the title is shaping up to be something very special.

In a world and story that’s being kept tightly under wraps, you play as a little princess called Aurora and are accompanied by Igniculus, a firefly. In our hands-on demo, the duo inhabited the ‘dream world’. When we pressed for details as to just what that meant, it was revealed that the game takes place between Aurora’s reality and her dreams, although the details pertaining to the relevance of either were not given.

Child of Light is one of those rare games that we believe can appeal to core and casual gamers alike. It manages to remain compelling without excluding anyone, and the simplified action is much more engaging than it may initially seem. With an interesting premise, solid gameplay mechanics, stunning art direction, and captivating music, we’ll be keeping a very close eye on this one.

Well here are a few more previews for Child Of Light in this third roundup.

TheAverageGamer

Combat itself is similar to turn-based JRPGs – the two sides face off against each other while a timer for each character run downs to indicate when their chosen action will take place. Igniculus helps out here too. Your co-op companion can have him hover over Aurora to speed up her action meter or over her enemies to slow them down.

He can also emit enough light cast shadows. One of the puzzles I saw required us to cast the right shapes over markings on a wall, so this may well be a crucial skill.

Child of Light is described as “as reimagining of classic fairytales”. Your main character Aurora was a child who fell ill and has woken up in another world with the ability to fly and a propensity to speak in rhyme. Written by Jeffrey Yohalem, the style is a long way from his previous game at Ubisoft, Far Cry 3. “The script is written in verse, largely in ballad form, said Yohalem. “It’s exciting and challenging to work within such a rigid structure.

TheGameHeadz

If you think this is going to be a touchy-feely adventure of point and clicks, then you're dead wrong. Aurora is packing a sword of epic proportions in Child Of Light, and with her trusty ball of light friend, Igniculus, she's going to tear evil a new one in this phenomenal-looking indie game. Ubisoft are really going all out to make this game as good as possible, without encroaching on the things that make indie games so good. Yes they've built a new engine just to make it look the way they want it, but the simple gameplay, and what is set to be an emotional roller coaster of a story, will bring it back to the indie roots they're aiming for.

As far as gameplay goes, Child Of Light is quite simple. Aurora flies around everywhere on her fairy wings, and can solve puzzles by hitting things or standing on switches. In combat, the aforementioned epic sword comes out and rocks your world. Aurora has a skill tree that can be upgraded to give her some phenomenal moves, such as the raining storm of fireballs you can see in the trailer below. When it comes to the combat, Child Of Light performs like an RPG, and a really good RPG at that, but it's still simple enough to be a believable indie game.

GodisaGeek posted a new hands-on preview for Child Of Light calling the game interactive poetry.

Child of Light was pitched as an interactive poem, and it really does seem just that. The whole game plays out in rhyme, with all of the characters who inhabit the game world speaking in a strangely poetic manner. If that wasn’t an interesting enough starting point, the game is also somewhat of an homage to Japanese Role-Playing Games, and the early Final Fantasy titles in particular. And all of that is wrapped up in a lovely UbiArt-designed package

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a two part interview with the developers of Child of Light. The first interview deals with Far Cry, Controversy, and Constraints.

I’m quite fascinated by Ubisoft’s epic poem JRPG melting pot of madness Child of Light, and I think you should be too. It’s an entirely bonkers concept, and – good or bad – it at least promises to be a thunderous step off the beaten path for a fee-fi-fo-fummingly gigantic publisher. I recently had the chance to chat with creative director Patrick Plourde and lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem, and you can find the first part of our conversation here. Today we pick up right where we left off: with guns and shootymen. Actually, that’s not where we left off at all, but sometimes natural transitions are hard. So read on to see what Plourde and Yohalem learned from creating Far Cry 3, fielding controversy that arose from it, and now, working within constraints more commonly associated with indie developers.

The second part of the interview deals with Poetry, and Female Characters.

Ubisoft is making an art game. Or at least, Child of Light is as close to an art game as any major publisher is likely to get for quite some time. It’s being put together by a tiny team (headed up by Far Cry 3‘s directors, of all people, because we are living in Bizarro Land) with incredibly little in the way of bellowing blasts from Ubisoft brass. The result? A gorgeously painterly JRPG Metroidvania with a story that takes the form of a 120-page epic poem. The yarn itself, meanwhile, is a highly metaphorical spin on a young girl’s struggles growing up. I sat down with creative director Patrick Plourde and lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem to discuss poetry, influence from both JRPGs and classic PC adventure games, creating a female character who’s not defined by her search for a “Prince Charming,” choices that cut off large chunks of content, and more.

Here are two more previews for the recently announced Child Of Light.

ShackNews

Patrick Plourde has previously stated that his upcoming RPG, Child of Light, would essentially be the opposite of Far Cry 3. On top of making it a modern fairy tale, he also hopes to use the game's two-player mode to help parents bond with their children.

The intention is evident through the game's story structure. Young princess Aurora sets out to save the kingdom of Lemuria, accompanied only by an unnamed companion sprite, who illuminates the game world, assists during combat, and generally acts as a faithful guide.

Digital Spy

Child of Light is a tantalising prospect; a role-playing game inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy, created using the same technology that powers one of this generation's best platformers, Rayman Legends.

The result is a dazzling hand-drawn world, a whimsical story inspired by fairy tales, and a traditional turn-based battle system where monsters and allies wait to engage blows and magic attacks.

Not only is it a pleasant surprise that Western publisher Ubisoft is tackling the dormant genre, but the fact that it comes from the creative team behind Far Cry 3 makes it all the more intriguing.

GodisaGeek interviews Jeffrey Yohalem the Lead writer of Child Of Light.

The game has been described as an interactive poem, a homage to Japanese RPGs and more, how would you describe it?

From the beginning we wanted to create a playable poem, so I think that is the best descriptor. I think it is a modern Fairytale – but that’s about it, I think that more words would complicate it.

What fairytales influenced Child of Light, and which traditional JRPGs/ did it take cues from?

I grew up on a lot of wonderful stories like His Dark Materials, the Chronicles of Narnia, stories by E. Nesbit. These wonderful stores that I would devour – I wanted to write something like that. It also harks back to The Longest Journey and Syberia. In this case it is about the daughter of a Duke, Aurora, in 1895 Austria who wakes up one day to find herself in this magical lost continent. She is struggling and finds that things are not what they seem, and she is going to have to do much more than defeat an Evil Queen to escape from there.

Was it difficult to tie together all of the elements in a game that is such a mix of different elements, being a side-scroller, poem, RPG and puzzle game?

No it wasn’t, because Pat the creative director and I both very firmly believed that the story should be the centre of everything. So we had the turn-based J-RPG gameplay and the combat and levelling system that helped the story tell the struggle to grow up, and so Aurora and the player are going through the same process and all of the elements; exploration, puzzle solving combat and levelling are about that journey away from safety and evolving into an adult.

Child Of Light was officially announced yesterday, and I have managed to roundup a few previews for everyone today because of that.

IGN

Child of Light is one of those games where you can't help but tell everyone about it the second you put down the controller. The creative team behind Far Cry 3 have harnessed the power of UbiArt Framework, the engine that helped bring vibrant life to Rayman Origins and Legends, and used it to create a gorgeous homage to classic 16-bit RPGs like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.

Part turn-based RPG and part platformer, Child of Light tells the story of young girl lost in a waking dream, and the lengths she'll go in order to become a woman strong enough to save those she loves. After spending about an hour playing though a small slice of the game cooperatively, two IGN editors couldn't help but gush about their experience.

Destructoid

The overall theme of the game is very fairy tale in nature, but don't let that fool you. As gorgeous as this game is in motion, there's a very dark theme to it and isn't meant to be taken lightly. A lot of inspiration comes from grown-up fairy tales, the ones that don't hide the dark stuff kind of like Disney movies. Kids can appreciate them, as can adults. The fairy tale nature even extends to the writing of the game, as all the dialogue is written out in rhyme and ballad form as if everything said feels like a poem throughout.

The developers promise that the game will be pretty "meaty," in that there will be a lot on offer to please JRPG fans. Yeah, it's still weird saying JRPG and Ubisoft in the same article.

Joystiq

There are no random encounters in Child of Light; rather, you see every enemy within the environment and, upon touching them, are thrust into battle. Child of Light's battle system is a variant of the Active Time Battle system employed in the Final Fantasy series. At the bottom of the screen, a bar shows how long it will take for enemy actions (and those of your own) to initiate; casting big spells or employing special moves will increase or decrease your attack timing, so planning is paramount.

It's a direct and simple system to grasp, especially if you've played the JRPGs from which Child of Light draws inspiration. Of course, those same systems take an entire game to develop and show you their intricacies, so this is just scratching the surface.

Child Of Light is a reimagining of classic fairy tales being developed by Ubisoft. I have a new trailer to watch if you are interested.

The Queen of the Night has stolen the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. You play as Aurora, the daughter of an Austrian duke with a pure heart whose soul is brought to the kingdom of Lemuria. Embark on a quest to recapture the three sources of light, defeat the Queen of the Night and restore the kingdom of Lemuria.